Tweens Non-Fiction

REVIEWERS: Alida Allison, Marie Soriano

* denotes San Diego writer and/or illustrator
** Age levels, when provided by the publishers, are included in the bibliographical information. Otherwise, category placements are our best approximations.

• David, Laurie and Cambria Gordon. The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming. New York: Scholastic, 2007. $15.99. ISBN 978-0-439-02494-5.
• Deary, Terry and Martin Brown. The Wicked History of the World: History with the nasty bits left in! New York: Scholastic, 2003. ISBN 0-439-87786-5. $10.99
• Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth. New York: Viking, 2007. Adapted for young readers by Jane O’Connor. $23. ISBN 978-0-670-06271-3.
• King, Bart. The Big Book of Girl Stuff. Illus. Jennifer Kalis. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2006. ISBN 1-58685-819-X. $19.95 U.S. Ages 8-14. www.bartking.net www.Gibbs-Smith.com

 

David, Laurie and Cambria Gordon. The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming. New York: Scholastic, 2007. $15.99. ISBN 978-0-439-02494-5. 114 pp.

This is Scholastic’s “big book” for the Fall season, and it’s easy to see why the publisher is so enthusiastic about it. Stylishly designed with a lot of eye appeal, kid-friendly layout, cartoons, and celebrity contributions (e.g. Will Ferrell and Cedric the Entertainer), the science of global warming is interspersed with facts about what young people have already done or can do to alleviate the problem. The book succeeds in engaging readers and encouraging them, for example, “There is no single solution. In fact, we need every solution. The future holds even more solutions, and you’ll be part of that.”
Like Al Gore’s book reviewed below, this book does indeed address the generation that’s going to be most affected by having to live with the direst consequences of planetary climate change. Of the two books, I prefer Gore’s, since it’s a more finely-produced book (hardback as opposed to David and Gordon’s large paperback). Younger readers may more respond to Scholastic’s production. Either one presents the cold facts about our hotter world.

A. Allison

Deary, Terry and Martin Brown. The Wicked History of the World: History with the nasty bits left in! New York: Scholastic, 2003. ISBN 0-439-87786-5. $10.99

Since I bought my son the British History version of this book many years ago and we both enjoyed it, I looked forward to The Wicked History of the World. Overall, however, I found it a depressing, even appalling collection. Note I am not criticizing the authors/compilers; they wrote a book doing exactly what they said they were going to do—it’s right on the book cover. With chirpy Brit wit, they breeze through the lowlights of human history. Nonetheless, the unrelenting chronicle of ghastly, gruesome, and godawful tortures, poisonings, brutalities, and genocides, even with cute cartoons, is disturbingly too much.

A. Allison

Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth. New York: Viking, 2007. Adapted for young readers by Jane O’Connor. $23. ISBN 978-0-670-06271-3. 192 pp.

Nobel Peace-prize winner Al Gore‘s presentation of the reality of global warming is persuasively adapted for younger-than-adult readers in this handsome, finely-produced volume. It is captivating from its first page, which, like several succeeding it, simply presents different photos and layouts of our blue-green globe—or, rather, the globe formerly known as blue green. As photos, drawings, graphs, charts, and other evidence reveals, the world is getting browner and drier in many places, while floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes increase elsewhere.
I think many of us have seen Gore’s movie; here in book form, the facts can be re-visited at one’s own pace, letting the information sink in. Splits in huge glaciers, melting permafrost, more algae blooms and infections insects—oh my. But Gore provides many methods for teenagers and their families to participate in doing whatever is possible to do
Meanwhile, one’s eyes linger on the stunning photos and maps of earth; it looks beautiful and fragile. As Gore writes, “…we simply can’t afford not to act.”
For a review of a simlar book, see above under “David.”

A. Allison

King, Bart. The Big Book of Girl Stuff. Illus. Jennifer Kalis. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2006. ISBN 1-58685-819-X. $19.95 U.S. Ages 8-14. www.bartking.net www.Gibbs-Smith.com

The Big Book of Girl Stuff is geared toward tweens and any adult woman who might be interested. It’s informative, inspiring and silly. Don’t be put off because it’s written by a man; in the acknowledgments he credits the many women who helped him, including his five sisters, so you can be sure this book isn’t full of horse puckey. In addition, there’s a nine-page Bibliography. I can assure you that being a man in no way negatively affects Bart King’s ability to write about and for girls. His writing is sheer fun, and even long chapters are broken into sections, so the book is also easy to read.

The Big Book has twenty-seven chapters and a lot to offer girls. These include “Girl Power,” “Lies, Mean Girls, and Jerks,” “Nicknames, Handwriting, Words, and Doodles,” “Etiquette and Manners,” “Family,” “Fashion,” and “Shopping and Advertising.” There’s plenty of serious stuff, too. With humor and sensitivity King addresses social situations and issues that girls experience, like being the target of mean kids at school. He gives advice on communication and family relationships, acknowledging girls’ common frustrations and annoyances, while also encouraging girls to be thoughtful of other people’s feelings. For example, “A mother worries that her connection with her daughter will get weaker as she gets older,” he explains. “Help your mom know what’s going on in your life by talking with her.”

He does an exceptional job discussing self-esteem and beauty. While he gives cool beauty tips for an American audience, he also provides cultural comparisons to put American standards of beauty into perspective; they’re socially constructed, prone to change and sometimes unrealistic. Those who are concerned about girls’ body image can rest assured that King encourages girls of all body types to feel good about themselves.

Jennifer Kalis’ illustrations are cute and often set up in newspaper-funnies fashion, depicting topics or situations that King discusses. They help create the light-hearted tone of the book. We’re talking fun, cartoonish figures, not realistic portraits, and in this case they work wonderfully.

The Big Book of Girl Stuff is not a younger version of Cosmopolitan like so many tween and teen magazines are, so adults who are concerned about girls growing up too fast can purchase this book for a girl in their lives with a clear conscience.

Kudos to Bart King!

Marie Soriano